Lee Valley panel clamp experiences?

[Phil Thien]

The Lee Valley panel clamps intrigue me:

http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/pag...81&cat=1,43838

I've gotten pretty good at using bar clamps, and cauls. But I will admit that it can get a little tricky getting all the parts assembled and aligned and tightened, especially on a larger panel. Some sort of panel clamping system that speeds the process and takes some of the stress out would be welcome.

The thing is, with my cauls, I know I'm applying a decent amount of downward pressure (because I'm using cauls with a taper, and clamping them), and my panels come out with hardly any misalignment between the boards. Scraping once or twice with the back of a chisel to remove the glue is typically all it takes to make sure my boards are flushed up.

Will I get the same result with the Veritas panel clamps do you think?

At $44.50 they aren't exactly cheap. It wouldn't want to buy three or four of them and find out they don't work as well as what I'm doing now.

Thanks for any feedback.

[Roger Rayburn]

Ninety bucks for one clamp plus you still have to make the wooden parts. I often wonder if the first person who ate an egg saw where it came from.

[Mike Heidrick]

Nine hundred bucks buys a JLT panel rack used most of the time. $500 more buys a flatner. WAY better than 18-28 bessies.

[Bill ThompsonNM]

I haven't tried the lee valley clamps , but I use a set sort of like this woodcraft clamp:
http://m.woodcraft.com/product/20003...ng-system.aspx
they put pressure in both directions on the panel which seems to work well. About 1/2 the price of the lee valley.
Even the lee valley doesn't seem super expensive if you compare to the cost of
bessey parallel clamps of any size

[John A langley]

Phil, I have four of the Woodcraft style clamps that you can have for $5 a piece plus shipping. But I will warn you that my experience with them was a PITA. The Lee Valley ones look like they may be easier to use. I would stick with the Cauls

[Phil Thien]

Phil, I have four of the Woodcraft style clamps that you can have for $5 a piece plus shipping. But I will warn you that my experience with them was a PITA. The Lee Valley ones look like they may be easier to use. I would stick with the Cauls

The Lee Valley ones DO look easier to use than the Woodcraft.

The Woodcraft units are fairly positively reviewed. And I can see by just looking at a picture how continuing to tighten them would put more and more caul pressure, as well.

I'm not sure if the Lee Valley ones work similarly. It doesn't look like they would provide as much caul pressure. But sometimes these things aren't obvious.

So the Woodcraft-like ones you have, are they the ones that use the plastic blocks, or drilled holes. Here, like Woodcraft, or like Rockler:

http://www.woodcraft.com/product/200...ng-system.aspx
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?p...1&site=ROCKLER

[Mike Henderson]

Why not just make yourself a set of cauls and clamp them at the outside of the panel? And use ordinary clamps to pull the panel together. Do you need to stack panels?

Except for stacking, I don't see how the LV clamps are superior to cauls and ordinary clamps. Maybe I'm missing something.

Mike

[scott vroom]

$90 per set, and you have to mill/drill the cauls?

Another Lee Valley gimmick to pick your pocket.

[Phil Thien]

Why not just make yourself a set of cauls and clamp them at the outside of the panel? And use ordinary clamps to pull the panel together. Do you need to stack panels?

Except for stacking, I don't see how the LV clamps are superior to cauls and ordinary clamps. Maybe I'm missing something.

Mike

I just thought they'd be faster, providing a clamp and caul all in one.

[Phil Thien]

$90 per set, and you have to mill/drill the cauls?

Another Lee Valley gimmick to pick your pocket.

If they work well, they do have some distinct advantages. And good bar clamps aren't cheap.

[Mike Henderson]

I just thought they'd be faster, providing a clamp and caul all in one.

One thing you have to be careful of. You need to pull the cauls tight first to flatten the panel, then apply pressure to pull the boards together. If you pull them together first, the cauls may not be able to push the boards into alignment.

I hope those clamps allow for that sequence.

Mike

[One other point - cauls are cheap. I make them out of good 2x4s which cost only a few dollars each.]

[Phil Thien]

One thing you have to be careful of. You need to pull the cauls tight first to flatten the panel, then apply pressure to pull the boards together. If you pull them together first, the cauls may not be able to push the boards into alignment.

I hope those clamps allow for that sequence.

Mike

[One other point - cauls are cheap. I make them out of good 2x4s which cost only a few dollars each.]

You clearly understand my concern.

The more I look at them, and read about them, the more I'm convinced they are designed to combat cupping of a glued-up panel.

One of my biggest concerns is edge alignment. Many of the panels I'm gluing are over 24" wide, I need the edges aligned to minimize clean-up because I don't have a wide belt or drum sander, or wide planer.

[Jerry Thompson]

I use the cauls Mike descibes and shows on his Web site. I could not be happier. I have done many a 24'' panel and done in the sequence Mike described they have all come out on the money.
Just because something is expensive does not mean it is better nor economical.

[John Nesmith]

One of my biggest concerns is edge alignment. Many of the panels I'm gluing are over 24" wide, I need the edges aligned to minimize clean-up because I don't have a wide belt or drum sander, or wide planer.

Neither do I. So, I made three pairs of these bowed cauls. They work well.

IMG_0238+%u00255B800x600%5D.JPG

IMG_0249.JPG

[Andy Pratt]

I have used these for about 5 years and will certainly say that they work excellently and are definitely not a gimmick. When I am making panels, I would actually prefer to have enough of these to be able to use only them and not have to also use parallel jaw clamps in between them. And that's with a rack of 24 bessey k-body clamps sitting right next to the table. The beauty of the system is that if you have made your wooden components correctly, you will totally eliminate panel cup, and reduce glue joint misalignment to a virtual non-issue. I have tried a lot of other methods and nothing is as simple to use or foolproof as this. I don't even bother alternating the parallel jaw clamps on each side of a panel any more when I use this, that's how good it is. I have made the wooden components out of douglas fir and hard maple, and found that they didn't work too well with the fir. On the hard maple they do every single thing that is claimed about them. Fit of the wood components is not nearly as critical as I had figured it would be when I made them (don't be overly worried about grain direction etc, although it is smart to consider it).

On the issue of price, they are $45 or $40 per "clamp", not $90 as one person said. One "item" gets you a stop and a clamp as show in the picture. They cost around the same price as a k-body so I feel like price is a non-issue. You have the inconvenience of making the wood components one time, but you get the convenience of making them to a size that suits your work so I feel like that is a wash. You can also move these among different size wood components for various jobs, and above everything else...they really work better than even bessey k-body clamps, there is just no comparison for this specific application (panels). Try a set of two and you won't be disappointed. You'll see that where you use these you have little or no edge misalignment and any panel you use them on will not have noticeable cupping). I currently use two per panel on the ends, and if I had my druthers I would use them all the way across each panel (maybe every 6" or so). If you have questions on making the wood pieces just pm me and I can give you tips to avoid some annoying errors I made on the first pair I built.

I have never stacked them as shown in the photo and feel like it would be much more cumbersome to get everything right if stacking them, so I wouldn't personally put much value on that feature, although as I said I've never actually tried it.

Hope this helps, if you want pics of my setup just let me know.

Andy